APRIL 1, 2010 - COVINGTON
It's every kid's dream - trailing 1-0 with two outs in the bottom of the final inning and facing a full count with two runners on base - and coming through with a game-winning hit.

That's the dream Covington senior Sarah Westfall lived out Thursday afternoon as she connected on a blooper into center field that scored teammates Aubrye Cain and Brittanie Flora for a thrilling 2-1 victory over Graham.

"To come away with a victory like this, somebody was watching over us from the heavens," said Covington coach Dean Denlinger. "For Sarah to come through on a 3-2 count with two outs, you couldn't write it up any better."

The victory didn't come without controversy, however.

First, Westfall had checked her swing with two strikes and the Graham contingent felt strongly her bat broke the point of no return.

After fouling off the next two pitches to stay alive, Westfall's drive to center field was smothered by a diving Graham center fielder - her body hiding the ball from full view of the umpire.

The two Covington runs scored, but the two umpires consulted on the field before issuing the official ruling that the ball had been dropped - drawing a strong complaint from the Graham site of the field.

"Those were close calls and I wouldn't want to be the one to make them," Denlinger said. "Either way you go somebody's not happy."

Graham had reason to be unhappy as Chyanne Heckman had pitched a whale of a game, striking out seven batters and holding Covington scoreless through six innings - only to see her effort go for naught under controversial circumstances.

"Their pitcher was outstanding," Denlinger praised. "She did a really nice job of changing things up and keeping us off balance. When we did make contact we hit the ball right at them."

Covington did manage to get runners on base several times in the contest, only to leave them stranded.

"We left 12 runners on base tonight, and that's not good," said Denlinger. "We had bases loaded in the first with no outs and didn't get any runs. Twice we had runners at second and third and left them stranded."

Fortunately for Covington, the final two runners scored.

And Sarah Westfall lived out a dream.

Scoring by Innings:
Graham .............0...0...0...0...0...1...0 - 1 .. 5 .. 1
Covington .........0...0...0...0...0...0...2 - 2 .. 5 .. 1